Punjab and Haryana HC: Calling wife ‘Kali Kaluti’ is a ground for divorce

In a recent judgment passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the court has allowed a woman from Mahendergarh in Haryana to divorce her husband on the ground of maltreatment and cruelty. The court has accepted the plea of the woman, in which she stated that she was compelled to stay away from her husband because he would often taunt her about her skin color and called her ‘kali kaluti’ in front of other people.

The division bench comprising of Justice M M S Bedi and Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill passed the order allowing the divorce while setting aside the verdict of the family court in Mahendergarh, which had dismissed the wife’s plea.

The court in its order has said that the “Wife has been able to establish that she was maltreated and treated shabbily as a result of which she was compelled to stay away from the matrimonial home. The evidence produced on record is held to be good enough to arrive at a conclusion that the appellant was treated with mental and physical cruelty.”

The veracity of the charges were further confirmed on the basis of an affidavit submitted by the woman. The woman’s parents also testified in the case making it even more authentic.